Tag: Mexican

With playful songs and stories, clowns help Mexican children understand their country’s missing persons’ crisis, and give them and their parents pieces of papers where they can anonymously share the location of a mass grave or say that one of their loved ones is missing. Since the government militarized the war against drug trafficking, Mexico has witnessed a rise in violence and disappearances, with around 40,000 people still missing.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron says his film “Roma” and its many nominations have “opened up a whole conversation that was so necessary” about the rights of domestic workers in both the US and Mexico, as he arrives on the red carpet ahead of the annual Academy Awards.

Speaking on the red carpet, ahead of the Oscars’ ceremony, the Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, wears a pin in support of his fellow Venezuelans who “are going through a terrible crisis.” Dudamel also says he is happy Latin American culture is being represented in cinema, praising Mexican Director Alfonso Cuaron, whose film “Roma” is nominated for 10 awards.

Directors who are up for Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category describe the importance of the nomination, saying they are “so proud” to represent their countries. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, whose film “Never Look Away” is nominated for Germany, adds that he thinks Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, whose film “Roma” is nominated in 10 categories, will win Best Foreign Film.

A flood of illicit fentanyl flowing from Mexico into southwestern U.S. states has pushed the synthetic opioid into the top spot for all fatal drug overdoses across the country. The so-called “Mexican oxy” is now being seized in record numbers. (Feb. 14)

After nearly three months of drama and intrigue, the epic trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán ended Tuesday when the jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict on all 10 counts of the Sinaloa cartel leader’s federal indictment.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for six days before convicting the 61-year-old Mexican drug kingpin on a litany of charges related to drug smuggling, murder, money laundering, and weapons possession. He now faces a mandatory sentence of life in U.S. federal prison with no chance for parole.

Lawyers react after Mexican mobster Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was found guilty by a New York jury of crimes spanning a quarter of a century. “He was bringing our spirits up,” one of his lawyers says, at the conclusion of the three-month trial of one of the world’s most powerful drug lords.

The notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been found guilty on all 10 counts in a NYC courtroom. El Chapo likely faces sentencing that will put him behind bars for the rest of his life. Sentencing is set for June 25. (Feb. 12)

“The jury found that Guzman lead the Sinaloa cartel, one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels in the world, and that he’s responsible for violence including murders and the smuggling of massive amounts of narcotics into the United States over a period of decades” says US attorney Richard Donoghue, after a jury finds ‘El Chapo’ guilty on all counts. SOUNDBITE